


If You'll Buy That

by Denois



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Already Dating, Also appearing in this fic:, Angst with a Happy Ending, Breaking Up and Getting Back Together, Christopher "Chowder" Chow - Freeform, Connor "Whiskey" Whisk - Freeform, Excessive use of George Strait lyrics, Fluff, Getting Together, Jonathon "Hops" Hopper, Lukas "Louis" Landmann - Freeform, M/M, Minor Injury to Major Character, Ollie O'Meara - Freeform, Pacer Wicks - Freeform, Rogelio "Roguey" DeLaHoya (OMC), Tony "Tango" Tangredi - Freeform, choose your own angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 11:24:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20227063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Denois/pseuds/Denois
Summary: Nursey looked around the room. It felt empty. Which was silly, more than half the stuff was still in it. Dex hadn’t had that much to move. Still. Nursey’d thought that Dex would spend one night in the basement, decide it wasn’t habitable or at least worse than rooming with him, and move back.Instead, it had been a week and Dex had built an entire tiny house down there. Complete with windows with curtains, a door with a deadbolt, a mail slot, and a potted plant. It was a really nice house. From what Nursey could see of it.He hadn’t been in, hadn’t been given the tour.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Choose Your Own Angst fic. That means at the end of chapter one there are four different ending options for different levels of angst. Trying to read straight through will not make sense. (Fixed my notes error that was making the navigation show up at the end of the work instead of at the end of chapter 1. bleh)
> 
> Thank you to [Draskireis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/draskireis) for being my patient beta.
> 
> Title from "Ocean Front Property" by George Strait.
> 
> Roguey is my OC, he's the backup goalie for Chowder and never ever gets to play. He is from Texas and played for the Odessa Jackalopes and inherited meta knowledge from John Johnson at which point he changed his major from astrophysics to competitive horticulture.

Nursey looked around the room. It felt empty. Which was silly, more than half the stuff was still in it. Dex hadn’t had that much to move. Still. Nursey’d thought that Dex would spend one night in the basement, decide it wasn’t habitable or at least worse than rooming with him, and move back. 

Instead, it had been a week and Dex had built an entire tiny house down there. Complete with windows with curtains, a door with a deadbolt, a mail slot, and a potted plant. It was a really nice house. From what Nursey could see of it. 

He hadn’t been in, hadn’t been given the tour. He thinks Bully had, maybe Ford. But the closest Nursey had gotten was the front porch while doing laundry that evening. 

Now he was back in the room that he used to share with Dex and he really couldn’t stand it anymore. 

How was he supposed to study without the tapping of keys? How many times over the last week had he started to ask an inane question that he thought of while reading, only to realize he had no audience, no one to share thoughts with? 

He dropped his laundry bag near his dresser with a thud. How many pairs of underwear did he have anyway? It hadn’t seemed like a lot until he’d actually stopped to find all the laundry that Dex complained about and just the undies filled an entire bag. 

He was getting maudlin about bikini briefs. Next he’d be using multiple exclamation points; a sure sign of a diseased mind. He needed to get out of the room for a bit. 

The kitchen light was on, and the kitchen was still full of people. Mostly people who didn’t live at the Haus. It was kind of late on a Tuesday for the waffles and taddies to still be over, but it meant not being alone. Or burdening only Chowder with his melancholy. C deserved a break from cheering him up. 

Chowder must have concurred, because when Nursey entered the kitchen, he didn’t even look up from his phone, just waved his sandwich in the general direction. Nursey let it slide off his shoulders though. He wanted a distraction, not another reason to feel sorry for himself.

Bitty must have gone on another jam spree because there were probably a dozen open jars on the table along with three types of peanut butter and four loaves of bread. Louis was spooning some from each of the jam jars onto his bread while Hops looked on in horror. Nursey dropped into a chair and sighed, pulling a jar over and looking at it idly. 

Tango looked up from the two jars that he was comparing. “Is Dex going to keep living in the basement? Are you guys broken up for good? What’s going to happen to the team?”

Nursey was about to respond with an affirmative, some confusion, and then some nice upperclassmen reassurance, but Louis beat him to it.

Louis was, at the time, mixing the three peanut butters together, but it apparently didn’t take as much concentration as it appeared to. “Nah. They’re still flirting just as much. It’s like my farbror and his wife in Kiruna. They have two houses across the street from each other. Seven kids, so in love, can’t live together though.” He finished smearing his mixtures together and completed the sandwich before taking a huge bite.

Nursey stared at him in shock. Not because of the sandwich, which still had Hops frozen in horror, but because he couldn’t believe people actually thought he and Dex were flirting. He _was_ flirting, but he’d been subtle and chill about it, and more importantly, Dex had not been. “Dex hates me. Like _hates_ me. He has not been flirting with me.”

Whiskey set a jam jar down and leaned back in his chair, more relaxed than Nursey’d ever seen him. “Hey, Nurse. I’ve got some property back home in Arizona I’m thinking of selling. It’s real nice. Ocean front, private beach. You interested in buying?”

Chowder snorted without looking up from his phone. “Yeah, I can get you a good deal on a bridge too.”

Nursey looked around the table, but all of his teammates had the same skeptical look on their faces. “Chill, bros.” He stood up and left the kitchen. He was looking for distraction, not chirps.

He considered going back to his room, but his teammates acting like he was naive just because he knew that Dex hated him, well that was irritating. And there was someone in the Haus that could back him up and settle it right then.

He tripped on the stairs and felt his heart stutter as he imagined falling and breaking his neck. Just like Dex had yelled at him would happen on the ice before he fell and broke his arm. He was just considering that trend when his non broken hand hit the rail and slid along it as he grabbed and braced himself. 

He crab walked the rest of the way down, holding the rail even though his hand had a stabbing pain. His heart was still pounding in his chest. Once he was on solid ground, he straightened back up and pried his hands off the rail. 

“Oh. Chill.” Nursey stared at the blood smeared all over his palm. He was starting to feel light headed.

“Dammit, Nurse. Why didn’t you just….” Dex was suddenly in front of him, holding his bloody hands and examining them. He flicked his eyes towards the plant by the door to his little house as he trailed off. “Come on.” 

Dex led him into the tiny house, not releasing his hands until he was sat on a tiny loveseat in a small living area. Dex disappeared through a door and Nursey looked around. It really was a tiny house with a kitchenette and living room. And it looked like Dex had gone into a little ¾ bathroom from what Nursey could see through the cracked door. He had to assume there was a bedroom area too. 

Dex returned and sat on the small seat, pressed up close to Nursey and took his hand back again. Nursey stared at what he was doing, but there was still blood. He played hockey, he shouldn’t get woozy every time he saw blood off the ice. 

“Nurse, stop looking at your hand. You always get pale when you see blood.”

Nursey snorted. “You’re one to talk about pale, white boy.” 

“Yep.” 

Nursey obeyed though, and kept his eyes on Dex’s face, which was intent on his hand. After a moment, the stabbing pain eased up, but then was replaced by stinging pain. “Ow! Betrayal!”

“Stop pulling your hand. I need to disinfect it and clean the blood up.” Dex’s hand was a vise and it was only a few more seconds before the stinging eased up. Dex didn’t let go of his hand, though. 

Nursey risked a glance down and saw that Dex was holding a gauze pad to his palm, not just holding his hand. That was ok though. The effect was the same. “What did you do?”

“You had a giant splinter in your hand. It wasn’t super deep, so I think you’ll be fine.” 

“Oh. Thanks. I didn’t even feel you remove it.”

Dex hummed softly. “I’ve had practice with splinters.”

“Ah.”

“What were you doing coming down here, Nurse? You already did your laundry.”

Nursey searched Dex’s face, but he was still looking down at Nursey’s hand where he was holding the gauze. 

“I was coming down to ask if you hate me.”

“What the fuck, Nurse?”

Dex didn’t look up or change the pressure he was applying. Didn’t pull away or lean more into Nursey. Basically, he was giving Nursey nothing to work with. Because he hated Nursey.

“Tango asked if we broke up. Then Louis said no, we still flirted with each other, we just needed space to make it work. And I tried to explain that we aren’t together, that you hate me, but Whiskey and Chowder both… expressed disbelief.”

Dex finally looked up and met Nursey’s eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [No Angst, Go To Chapter 2](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20227063/chapters/47936245)   
[Very Mild Angst, Go To Chapter 3](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20227063/chapters/47936293)   
[Medium Angst, Go To Chapter 4](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20227063/chapters/47936356)   
[Spicy Angst, Go To Chapter 5](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20227063/chapters/47936485)
> 
> Find me on Tumbls at [SexyDexyNurse](https://sexydexynurse.tumblr.com/)


	2. Chapter 2

“I don’t hate you.” 

Nursey scoffed. “Of course you do. You’re always yelling at me.”

“To not do stupid stuff that could get you killed. And, ok. Yeah. I get irritated sometimes when I’m stressed out and then the little things you do like leaving dirty clothes all over, it just pokes too much. I’m sorry that I snap.” Dex looked back down at their hands. 

Nursey thought that was it and was going to respond, but Dex sighed and continued.

“That’s why I moved down here. You’re not an introvert. You just don’t understand that I need to be able to recharge without people around. And I’m grumpy at the best of times. It wasn’t fair to you either, making you put up with me. But, I mean, it’s not like I don’t want to see you still.”

Nursey curled his fingers against Dex’s. “You do?”

“Yeah. I-“ Dex’s eyes flicked to the side and back. “I like spending time with you. Just, I need alone time too.”

Nursey looked where Dex’s gaze had jumped. There was a mantel framing a small space heater, with the little potted plant that had been in Dex’s original bunker. Flanking the mantel were built in bookcases. It was all really impressive. 

Nursey’s eyes slid along the titles, unsurprised to see shelves stuffed full of Dex’s entire Discworld collection. When he glanced at the other shelf, he paused. 

Banana Bottom. Home to Harlem. Banjo. Amiable With Big Teeth. Long Way From Home. 

It looked like Dex had tried to get every book Claude McKay had written. There were even a couple of different compilations of his poems. 

“I didn’t realize you were such a fan of the Harlem Renaissance.” Nursey had lost all track of the previous conversation and was too busy trying to reconcile the books on the shelf with Dex to worry about returning to it.

“Oh. Well, the guy I’m interested in is really into writers from that era. So I thought I’d read some. And having the books in case he visited seemed logical.” Dex’s voice seemed tight and Nursey turned to look at him. 

“You’re interested in a guy?” Nursey’s voice felt more strangled than Dex’s had sounded. Of course Dex was interested in someone else. No wonder he’d been upset by Nursey flirting. Nursey was the biggest idiot ever. Man, the guy even shared Nursey’s taste in literature. 

Dex shrugged. “He thinks I hate him though. So.” Dex looked down and seemed to realize that he was still holding Nursey’s hand. He busied himself checking the gauze and then cleaning everything up. 

Dex was ducked back into the bathroom putting away the hydrogen peroxide and antibiotic ointment before Nursey managed to pull his thoughts together. 

“Hey, Dex. I bet he’d love to sit and read with you down here. I mean, I know I would. He’d probably also love to buy you coffee at Annie’s tomorrow at two.”

“Think so?”

“Yeah. I really do.”

* * *

Nursey sat in the back booth at Annie’s at 1:45 the next afternoon. He checked his phone for the time between staring at the door and trying to look like he wasn’t just staring at the door and checking his phone. 

At 1:58, Dex walked into Annie’s and looked around with his shoulders hunched until he saw Nursey. Nursey’d been half afraid that he’d show up with another guy in tow. 

“Hey, Nurse. You meeting somebody?”

“Just this guy I like. Been trying to wheel him for two years and I think he’s going to let me buy him coffee today. You meeting someone?”

“Just this pretentious guy that can’t seem to go two minutes without hurting himself. But he’s wicked smart and got me into Claude McKay, so I was thinking about letting him buy me a coffee.” 

Nursey grinned and pulled Dex down into the seat beside him. 

“Two years, Nurse? Fuck. Use your words next time.”


	3. Chapter 3

“I’m ok with not telling the team until you’re ready. I wouldn’t hate you for that. Sorry I haven’t been more subtle around them. I can dial it back, more.” He looked back down at Nursey’s hand, looking around the the gauze to make sure there wasn’t any blood seeping out. 

“What are you talking about?” Nursey stared at Dex. Literally nothing he’d said made sense. 

Dex sat up and leaned back, looking at Nursey with eyes wide. “Oh. Did you mean that you were breaking up with me? Fuck. I’m sorry. Here. Put pressure on your hand and take the antibiotic ointment and bandaid. You probably meant to just say it and go.” 

Dex clamped his mouth shut and pressed his lips into a firm line. His body was rigid and stoic, but when he blinked, Nursey could see how glassy his eyes were. And that, that was a look he never wanted to have caused Dex to have. 

“No! I’m not breaking up with you. I, what? How can I break up with you?”

Dex exhaled long and slow and relaxed slightly, but kept his eyes fixed on Nursey like he didn’t believe him. “Well, it’s going to happen eventually, right? And I just had a big explosion and what kind of guy can’t even stand to share a room with his boyfriend?”

“No, back up. I mean. When did we start dating?” Nursey leaned back against the back of the loveseat, trying to process this information.

“Uh, late March or early April? Not really sure if you’d count from the first kiss, first date, third date, or what. Whichever you want to use for the anniversary is fine.”

“First kiss? I think I’d remember if we kissed!” Nursey felt his eyes widen and heard his voice go up an octave, but he was losing his tenuous hold on his chill.

“You were pretty drunk at Keagster. But yeah. You kissed me and asked me out. You also kissed me at the Kupster down in Providence. You were drunk both times, so I made sure you got to bed safely. You haven’t tried to kiss me sober yet. Figured you liked to go slow physically. Been trying to keep you from kissing me at kegsters too, since you can’t consent when drunk.” Dex’s cheeks were turning pink, and he seemed very intent on inspecting the warnings on the bottle of hydrogen peroxide.

“We haven’t been going on dates, either, though.”

Dex’s brow furrowed and he glanced up at Nursey. “We get Annie’s at least once a week and we’ve gone to the movies half a dozen times. Plus the mini golf games.”

Nursey forced himself to take slow deep breaths. “I would have noticed if we were dating, Poindexter. You can stop messing around with me. Just because I like you doesn’t mean it’s ok to fuck with me.”

Dex looked at him for a long moment and then he reached out a hand to cradle the one that Nursey had just hurt. “You came to visit my family in Maine over the summer. My dad called you ‘son.’”

“I thought that was an old white guy thing.”

Dex shook his head. “He doesn’t even call me ‘son’. My ma invited you to Christmas. She’s crocheting you a stocking to match the rest of the family.”

Nursey’s voice was down to a whisper. “I thought she was just being nice.”

Dex lifted Nursey’s hand to his cheek. “When I visited your place, your ma gave me a shovel talk.”

“We’ve really been dating for eight months?”

“Yeah. There about.”

“And you’ve accepted that I didn’t kiss you or touch you?”

“I didn’t want to rush you. It wasn’t easy. I mean. Have you seen yourself? And you’d walk around the room in just your skivvies. But, whatever. I want to be with you. However.”

Nursey huffed air up at his curls. “Fuck. No wonder you got irritated with me. I was giving out ‘Pay attention to me!’ signals and we were at the ‘It’s so nice to be around my boyfriend’ stage. I can’t wait to show you how good a boyfriend I am when I know I’m a boyfriend.” Nursey smiled at Dex.

Dex laughed and shook his head in return, but his eyes were soft. 

Nursey’s hand was still on Dex’s cheek and he rubbed his thumb over Dex’s cheekbone before leaning in. “Also, I’m actually super on board with physical affection.” 

He pressed their lips together softly and Dex sighed into it, opening his mouth easily to Nursey.


	4. Chapter 4

“Oh. Yeah. Ok. You were coming down to break up with me. I didn’t realize I was being too obvious. I know you didn’t want them to know. It’s ok. I get it.”

Nursey squinted at Dex in confusion. “What?”

“We can still play together, right? I mean. I really need the scholarship is the only thing. But I can talk to the coaches about moving me down a line if that will make it easier on you. Just. Tell me what you need.” Dex had pulled his hands back and was pressing them against his thighs, dragging them slowly over his jeans.

Nursey wanted to reach out and grab them back. Make Dex hold his hand again, but they didn’t do that and he was too confused by what Dex was saying to figure out what to do to get back to where they were. 

“I’m gonna go to bed now. Could you turn out the light when you leave?” Dex stood up and headed to a door. 

“Wait. Please. I don’t understand what you’re saying. We weren’t dating.”

Dex stopped and seemed to deflate even more. “Of course. You were drinking. I didn’t think it was that much but. God, I’m a fool. To think I believed that Derek Nurse would actually want me. That you’d ever have kissed me without the influence of tub juice.” He turned a wan smile towards Nursey. “You can’t consent if you’re not sober, so it’s cool. Sorry for misunderstanding.”

Dex shut the door after he finished speaking and Nursey was left gaping in the tiny sitting area. Nursey fell back onto the loveseat trying to figure out what he’d missed. Dex clearly thought that they’d been dating. He’d said that they’d kissed. Or, that Nursey had kissed him. He seemed to think that Nursey was ashamed of being seen with him. Or having people know. 

As though Nursey wouldn’t have been shouting about it on the quad if they were dating. As though sober Nursey hadn’t been pining for Dex for years.

If he’d had even half a clue that Dex wanted that, nothing would have stopped him. He let his gaze trace around the room as he tried to ground himself. Five things he could see. A space heater in a faux fireplace with a mantel. The entire set of Discworld books. A small succulent on the mantel. Dex’s laptop on a secretary desk. A built in bookcase full of Claude McKay books. 

Nursey stood up and ran his hand over the McKay books, thinking about the plot of each one as he read their names. A bit to the side, there was a panel with a latch. He thumbed it open and opened the panel to reveal another secretary desk. 

Nursey shook his head and turned off the light before heading back up to the main floor of the Haus. When he looked in the kitchen, the group from before was gone, leaving only Ollie and Wicks. Well, it was worth a shot. And they hadn’t been there for the earlier conversation, so they’d be unbiased.

“Chill, hey bros. Can I ask a question?” He tried to slump into a chair nonchalantly.

Ollie raised an eyebrow but otherwise, didn’t say anything. 

“Does Dex flirt with me?”

Wicks snorted. “All the time.”

“He’s weird about it, though.”

“Yeah, he doesn’t say shit or touch much or whatever like most people. Like you do to him.”

“But he smiles at your stupid stories.”

“Makes coffee and breakfast for you even when he says he’s too busy to make it for the rest of us before class.”

“When he helped us with the attic, he’d already been here a week putting together stronger bunk beds.”

“And anchoring them to the wall for safety.”

“And he built two, or three, bookshelves.”

“He started springing for the pet friendly ice salt after you bemoaned the chemical burns the regular stuff causes.”

“Shovels the sidewalks all the way to campus.”

“Really gets down to the concrete too.”

“And his bachelor pad?”

Wicks snorted again. “More like a starter home. Ollie and I didn’t put that much personalization for each other into the attic and I bought him a chandelier.”

Ollie held up his fist and Wicks bumped it. “The waffles are like his kids, but he put the fear of god in them over your pregame.”

“And don’t even get us started about roadies.”

Ollie turned and looked at Wicks. “Hey, didn’t he punch that Alt Righter guy who yanked off someone’s hijab?”

“But was that flirting? He didn’t even know we were around, and no one else from the team was.”

“You’re right. That doesn’t count. Wonder if he ever got his flannel back though.”

Bouncing back and forth between them was starting to give Nursey a headache. This is why the team left them alone most of the time.

“But he does stuff for everyone.”

Ollie and Wicks shared a look and then leveled him with a look. “He does stuff for the Haus. Or if people ask.”

“But when’s the last time you asked him to do something like that?”

Nursey crossed his arms. “I asked him to turn the heat up. And to give me my bag.”

Ollie snorted. “Increasing our gas bill and milking your injury absolutely do not count.”

“Milking it! I didn’t milk it.”

“How many times did you ask him to get something, wait until he sat back down, then ask for something else?”

Nursey didn’t have a way to respond that didn’t implicate him. But in his defense, Dex looked really good bending over to get his books. “I’m going to bed.”

* * *

Nursey waited until after nine to go downstairs. Everyone else in the Haus had early classes on Wednesday so that they didn’t have to rush from class to conditioning, but Nursey enjoyed sleeping in a little bit on days they didn’t have morning practice, so his first class wasn’t until eleven. Which was to say, he expected the Haus to be empty and was surprised to find Roguey sitting at the kitchen table eating fruit loops. 

“Uh, hey Roguey. What brings you by?”

“Chowder texted and said that he needed to call in the backup goalie. So, here I am. Ready to dispense advice and life lessons. Dex put your breakfast in the microwave.” He didn’t look up while speaking and immediately took another slurping bite of cereal.

Nursey busied himself getting his breakfast out of the microwave. “Advice and life lessons, huh?”

“Yeah, I mean. I’m as surprised as you are. Two and half years and I’ve never gotten to so much as get off the bench after warm ups, but Chowder finally says he’ll sit this one out.”

Nursey sat down with his plate and his Yeti which had been full of coffee. “Chill.”

“Step one, realize that even though Dex thinks you broke up with him last night, he still left you a Yeti full of coffee to your taste and a plate full of breakfast.”

Nursey looked down at his plate and blinked. Yeah, Dex had still made him breakfast. Even if he hadn’t known that Dex was doing that special just for him, it seemed like it would have stopped after the night before. “Chill.”

“Step two, listen to the wise words of King George.”

“Of England?”

“Of country music. Specifically, ‘Write This Down’.”

“Wait, let me get my phone and I’ll make a note.” Nursey set his fork down and fumbled his phone out of his pocket.

“No. It’s the title of a song. It’s what you should do. The song tells the person leaving to do the writing, but I’m telling you to do it for Dex. Play to your strengths. Use your words. Tell Dex how you feel, write it down so it’s all out there. Maybe this story can still have a happy ending and you won’t ruin the author’s HEA and HFN percentages.”

“What?”

“Nevermind. Just, write down how you feel and give it to Dex. Get it notarized. Send it certified mail. Make it official. Make one of those little origami hearts with it. Whatever you think will show him you’re serious. If you’ll excuse me, I can’t be late for my floral art class.” Roguey stood up, setting his bowl in the sink on his way out of the Haus.

Since he already had his phone out, he pulled up a browser and searched for the lyrics to the song. “Ok, so chill. Just, write down that I love him because I forgot to say it. Except in my case, I didn’t know to say it.”

He headed back up to his room; this called for the good stationery. He took a few moments to think of exactly what he wanted to write and then carefully wrote it out with his nicest ink and fountain pen. The one Dex called Riley. He’d always been jealous that his inks made Dex think of someone else, but now that he knew that they’d been dating, he was pretty sure Dex hadn’t named the ink after another person. Dex wasn’t that kind of guy. He should probably ask what it meant. 

He paused before signing his name. The lyrics suggested swearing under oath but Nursey wasn’t sure how he would manage that. It’s not like a judge will just put a person under oath because they asked, and how would he even get Dex to the courthouse to see it? He was pretty sure Shitty wouldn’t have that power even once he graduated and passed the bar and was an actual lawyer. 

He leaned back and closed his eyes. What other options were there to really emphasize that this was for real? Roguey had suggested having it notarized. That made sense. Dex would probably be more accepting of that than a skywriter. Even better, Nursey happened to know a woman in the admin office was a notary public and would notarize documents for students for free. 

A smile bloomed on his face. He had a plan and plenty of time assuming one of his classmates would give him notes from his first lecture. It took no time at all to swing by the admin office to get the note signed and sealed. Then he carefully folded it and delivered it to a courier service. He made it to his second class of the day with time to spare. 

Technically, he didn’t have to go to conditioning this early in being on IR. That wasn’t going to stop him from going though. Especially since he’d asked for the letter to be delivered during conditioning. 

He was on the stationary bike when the courier arrived and asked for Dex. The letter required a signature to be released and Dex stepped into the hall to deal with them. He poked his head back in and called over, “Nurse, a word?”

“Boys, this isn’t social time.” Bitty didn’t look up from his phone braced on the bike beside Nursey.

He was about to point that that this was voluntary on his part when Dex spoke up again. “Hydration break, Bits.”

Bitty didn’t acknowledge the statement, so Nursey slipped into the hall with Dex. 

Dex held up the note and raised his eyebrows in a wordless question.

“Look, I know you. You and I both know that you wouldn’t have let me kiss you if I’d been too drunk to consent. More than that, I’m pretty sure you’ve brushed off love confessions from me when I was drunk before. Which means that I was definitely not drunk when I asked you out or you wouldn’t have said yes.”

Dex opened his mouth and looked like he was about to argue, so Nursey rushed on. “I know. I know I don’t remember what happened, but that had to have been because I drank more to celebrate finally asking you out and you finally saying yes. Which was a bonehead move on my part. NGL, it was stupid. But the worst part is that it made you think I wanted to keep you a secret. I never want to shut up about how much I like you. If you wouldn’t seriously contemplate murder or disappearing to another country, I’d have a statue erected on campus to let everyone know we were dating. I’d take out a full page ad in the Swallow to brag about it. I did put serious thought into a skywriter. I want to date you, so so much. And if you agree to date me again, I want to tell everyone about us.”

He ran out of steam and waited while Dex stared at him dubiously for a few moments. “Really?”

“Really really.”

“You’re sure you want to date _me_? Will Poindexter?

“You and only you.”

Dex looked down at his hands for a moment and Nursey started to get worried. Maybe Roguey was wrong. Maybe this wouldn’t work. 

“It’s just, last night was really tough. I don’t want to go through that again. So, I need to know you’re in it for real. Because this won’t be casual for me. I know the odds of it working out long term aren’t great. But I need it to be a real try.”

Nursey reached out with his hand still wrapped in gauze from the night before and squeezed Dex’s hand. “Never tell me the odds.” 

“Nerd.”

“You made me watch it. But yeah. This is the real deal.” 

“Ok. Then, yeah. We can try starting over.”

Nursey grinned and then stepped forward into Dex’s personal space, lifting his broken arm up to run the knuckles against Dex’s jaw. “Does that mean I can kiss you, Poindexter?”

“Ayuh.”

He closed the remaining gap and pressed their lips together, gently in a promise. All too soon, he pulled back and sighed.

“Bitty will notice it’s been awhile.”

“Yeah. We should get back in there. But Poindexter?”

“Ayuh?” 

“Your birthday’s coming up. Boyfriends get to buy their boyfriends things, right?”

Dex stared at him wide eyed before opening the door. “I gotta finish my cardio circuit.” The door shut behind him before Nursey could respond so he just smiled and pulled out his phone to make a reservation and start looking up tool sets and other gift ideas.


	5. Chapter 5

“Do you think that I care for you so little that breaking up with me would make me hate you?”

Nursey blinked in confusion. “Breaking up with you? I didn’t break up with you. We would have had to have been dating for me to break up with you. 

Dex pulled his hands away and fisted them on his thighs for a moment and then pushed himself up off the loveseat. “So I just imagined the kegster? Right. Sure. You know the way out. Goodnight, Nurse.”

“Are you mad at me for saying we never dated? You can’t be mad at me for the truth!”

Dex stopped and turned a glare on him. “_You_ kissed _me_. You asked me out. I understood that you didn’t want people to know you were with me. I could live with being your secret. I know I don’t deserve you. I’m better than I was, and I’m still going to work on being someone who you would want to be seen with in public, but I know I’m not there right now. So I understand why you broke up with me, even if I thought the method was shit, but do not be cruel.” 

Dex disappeared through a door which closed firmly behind him, leaving Nursey with his bandaged hand and a lot more questions than answers.

When he got to the first floor, he heard singing coming from the kitchen, so he poked his head back in. The room had cleared out of everyone who’d been there before, but Roguey was sitting with his feet up in a second chair singing along to his phone. 

“If you leave him, he won’t miss you, and he won’t ever take you back. Boy your memory, won’t ever haunt him, ‘cause he don’t love you. Now if you’ll buy that….” Roguey trailed off as he looked up to meet Nursey’s eyes. He dropped his feet to the floor and pulled his earbuds out. “I think that Whiskey and Chowder already offered to sell you some property and a bridge. But unless I’m mistaken, Dex hasn’t tried to sell you anything.”

Nursey shook his head sharply. Talking to Roguey was always weird. “Why are you here so late, Rogues?”

“I got subbed in. Chowder said he needed his backup. And the narrative requires that you get a wake up call.” He paused with a smirk. “Ironic, I know. You haven’t even gone to bed yet.”

Nursey dropped into a chair opposite Roguey and sighed. “Why do I need a wake up call?”

“What truth did Dex just lay on you?”

“Apparently I kissed him, asked him out, broke up with him, but he still cares for me. Oh, and I’m cruel to say that none of that happened because I would definitely remember that happening.”

“That so? You remember every moment of every kegster then?”

He refused to look at Roguey. They both knew the answer to that question. “Doesn’t change the fact that I didn’t break up with him. How could I have done that if I didn’t know I was dating him?”

Roguey’s phone slid across the table and bumped Nursey’s arm. A web browser was open to the Samwell Men’s Hockey page with the Ask A Wellie answers.

> @nurse Are you still single? Just asking for a friend! ;)

“You remember that day?”

“Chill.” Nursey pushed the phone back and dropped his head to the table. The day was clear in his mind. Preseason, answering the stupid things for PR, someone had sent in a question about if he was single and he’d laughed about it while Bitty told Ford not to answer it. Then he’d told her to go ahead and put that he was. Dex had been three feet away from him. He’d been trying to hint to Dex that he was available. But if he had been dating Dex. He groaned.

“If it’s any consolation, Dex didn’t stop flirting with you after that.”

“He doesn’t flirt with me.”

“Oh. Your Yeti gets filled with coffee by itself. Magic pixies prepare breakfast for you and no one else. Of course. How foolish of me.”

Nursey lifted his head to thrown an incredulous look at Roguey. “You mean Dex does that?”

“You didn’t think it was Bitty, did you? He’s busy with Jack and...baking…. Probably something else.”

“I just thought…. I guess I didn’t think about it.”

“Yeah. Maybe you should try thinking about it. But also, stop overthinking things. How do you manage to do both at once?” Roguey stood up and shook his head. 

“Doesn’t matter now. Apparently I was cruel to him. I blew it.”

The front door closed and Nursey sighed before heading up to his room.

* * *

Nursey didn’t have class on Wednesday until 11. Everyone else was out of the Haus by 9 and he was surprised to find his Yeti full of coffee to his taste and a post note on the microwave with his name indicating a plate of food was saved back for him. Now that he knew Dex had been doing that special, he’d expected it to stop,

Maybe he could still save this? If they’d been a couple and he just hadn’t realized it, then he’d been a really shitty boyfriend. For starters, he hadn’t gotten Dex anything for his birthday which was coming up. And to round it out, he had been saying that he was single, even if he hadn’t wheeled because of his giant crush on the guy he was apparently dating. That was embarrassing. But no wonder Dex thought he was ashamed of him. Had thought that he’d broken up with him.

His first inclination was to yell about it on the quad, or maybe hire a skywriter. But, just because Dex didn’t want to be a secret didn’t mean he would appreciate grand romantic gestures. 

Nursey glanced at the time and then shot off a text to one of his classmates asking them to let him copy their notes. He’d lose some participation and attendance points, but this was more important. 

He could only afford to miss the one class, so he made his trip quick to make it back in time for the quiz in his finance class over The Ascent of Money. 

He hadn’t read the chapters, but then he hadn’t done that since the second week when he realized the quizzes were all fill in the blank with an answer bank so he just had to figure out which one made the most sense. After that he zoned out a little while the prof started lecturing at a rapid pace. He tried to keep up with writing the missing information in the prepared notes she gave out, but otherwise, he was thinking about what Dex was doing and trying to dredge up memories of them being coupley. 

He couldn’t think of any. He wished he could remember the kegster when he apparently kissed Dex and asked him out. He had faith that Dex wouldn’t have kissed him back or taken him at his word if he’d been well and truly drunk. Which means that Tipsy Nursey asked Dex out and kissed him, and then decided to celebrate Dex saying yes by getting smashed. It sounded like the sort of thing Tipsy Nursey would do. Sober Nursey couldn’t really be mad at him either. Tipsy Nursey had gotten over the fear and asked Dex out. It was Sober Nursey who dropped the ball. 

His phone lit up with an incoming text and he pulled it up. He was far enough back that the professor couldn’t see what he was doing anyway. 

> SexyDexy: wtf Nurse.  
SexyDexy: For long years  
Your affection and  
notice I sought.
> 
> More fool I,  
For it was mine  
And I recognized it not.  
SexyDexy: What the actual fuck?

> Me: Can we talk when I get back to the Haus? It’s more of an in person conversation, isn’t it?  
Me: Unless you don’t want to see me.  
Me: Which I will respect.

> SexyDexy: Fine. basement.

Nursey smiled to himself. Dex must have gotten the delivery right after his lab. Right on time for when he’d requested it be delivered. He hated that his class got out after Dex’s lab. And that they were on opposite ends of campus. He’d have liked to be there himself. But Dex was willing to talk to him, down at his bungalow even. 

Right as class got out, he got another text.

> SexyDexy: what the hell, Nurse? Seriously?

> Me: OMW. I’ll explain.

Nursey ran from the business building back to the Haus. He didn’t sprint, even though he wanted to, instead keeping to an easy lope so that he wouldn’t be out of breath when he arrived. He threw a wave at whoever was in the front room and then slowed as he went down the stairs to the basement. He did not want to fall and get another splinter. Or worse.

He made it down without incident and knocked on Dex’s door. Dex pulled the door open only a second later, stared at him for a moment and then turned and disappeared into the little house. He left the door open, so Nursey entered and closed it behind him before taking a seat on the same loveseat they shared the night before. Dex sat in his computer chair.

“So. Explain.” Dex had crossed his arms over his chest. The sleeves of his shirt were pushed up, giving Nursey a private invitation to the gun show.

“Nurse.” 

Nursey pulled his eyes away from Dex’s flexed muscles and met his gaze. “Right. Well. The thing is….” He trailed off and licked his lips. “At Keagster, I kissed you and asked you out.”

“Thank you for finally acknowledging that.”

“Ch’yeah. It’s just. I don’t actually remember that. I must have kept drinking to celebrate and then forgotten. So, I didn’t know we were dating. And when I said that I was single, I was trying to gauge your interest and flirt with you. But instead, I broke up with you. So, apology flowers seemed like a good start.”

He glanced at the vase arrangement that Dex had put on the mantel. The florist had done an amazing job with red long stem roses and big white Fuji mums. And, of course, the red screwdriver handles sticking out amongst the flowers as well. He was kind of surprised that Dex hadn’t pulled them out yet, but the florist had assured Nursey that they would be waterproofed.

“Was I not supposed to notice that those are not just flowers?”

“Apology presents also seemed like a good start. Especially if I was trying to turn the apology into an apology plus, can we try actually being boyfriends, this time with me being aware of it.” The words all came out in a rush and he glanced quickly at Dex and then away.

The room was silent.

The room continued to be silent. 

Nursey took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He should probably show himself out. 

“Those... are not cheap screwdrivers, Nurse.”

“Chill. I guess. I had help shopping. But the guy said that they were good quality. And that they are special designed for electrical work? And I know that you were planning to try to do some around the Haus. So. You’re not the only one who worries.”

“Hmm. Okay. So, are you going to explain all this then?”

Nursey looked over and Dex was waving his hands at a pile of boxes in front of the bookshelves.

“Right. Those are power tools.”

“I can see that, Nurse. It’s _two grand_ worth of power tools. I’m not for sale.”

“I was really hopeful about the ‘us trying to date’ thing, and it’s like two weeks ‘til your birthday. And I’m kind of running on a deficit on the boyfriend points department, so I need to show you how good a boyfriend I can be.”

Dex nodded slowly and then leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling for a few moments. 

“The power tools are going back.”

It had been too much to hope for, really, that Dex would want to be with him again. He’d blown his chance by not realizing he’d had it. He straightened his shoulders and blinked to clear his eyes.

Dex finally lowered his gaze and his expression softened as he met Nursey’s eyes. “But. If you swear you just didn’t know that you’d asked me out. And you swear that you really mean it. Not some casual hookup, or something. I’m-” He broke off and swallowed thickly. “I thought I could be your dirty little secret before, but I don’t think I can do that. So. You’d have to want to actually be with me openly.”

“Chill, Dex. I’ve been trying to figure out how to be with you for two years.” 

“I’d say that asking was the first step, but you did that and it still didn’t work out right, so….”

“But if I take the power tools back, maybe we can have a mulligan?”

“Yeah--start over. Clean slate. More talking.”

“Maybe more kissing, too? Just saying.”

Dex snorted as he laughed, and it was unfairly attractive. “Yeah. That works for me.”

Nursey didn’t need any additional invitation; he launched himself from the loveseat onto Dex’s lap, slowing down to run a knuckle over Dex’s cheek. “More fool I.” 

Dex rolled his eyes and leaned forward the last scant inch to bring their lips together.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumbls at [SexyDexyNurse](https://sexydexynurse.tumblr.com/)


End file.
